Star Wars in the UK: Lock S-Foils in a Snack Position – Walkers Crisps ’97-’99

As every die-hard Star Wars follower knows, it’s an increasingly hungry business being a Star Wars fan. Running around conventions worldwide, chasing down an ever expanding array of collectibles, playing with toys new and old, using your fertile imagination to act out Star Wars adventures — it’s energy sapping and the Force can only sustain a Jedi hunger for so long. Thank goodness back in the ’70s someone decided it would be a good idea to release Star Wars-themed snacks and treats, starting with the first release and running all the way through to today. And what Star Wars crazy kid wouldn’t want to nibble away on Star Wars themed munchies? We’re going focus on two specific Walkers crisps (or chips as our American friends call them) promotions here in the UK, the ’97 Star Wars Special Editions and The Phantom Menace from ’99. Walkers Crisps, founded in 1948 in Leicester, England, by Henry Walker and later bought by PepsiCo, is one of the worlds largest producers of crisps making 11 MILLION bags per day and using over 800 tons of potatoes (sadly not including the ILM potato which forever roams the asteroid field from The Empire Strikes Back). Star Wars and savory snacks — it’s a better mix than Han and Leia, photon torpedoes and exhaust ports, and blue milk and Wookiee cookies.

1997: Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition

Travel back the best part of two decades and you’ll find yourself in 1997, the year when the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition was tearing up cinemas across the globe. In early ’97 the Star Wars: Special Edition had broken the January box office opening record, bringing in a magnificent $35,906,661 during its first weekend, followed by Empire‘s $21,975,993 three weeks later and Jedi‘s $16,293,531 three weeks after that. With enhanced sound and visual effects as well as added scenes and a few surprises, it proved to the world that the hunger for Star Wars was as ravenous as it had been two decades before. Indeed, this very site was started in November 1996 to help market the Special Editions and was the first movie website to post video documentaries, beginning with the much-loved Anatomy of a Dewback.

Here in the UK, Walkers were bringing out a range of tie-in munchies that would run parallel with the films releases. Spending £15 million (in partnership with Britvic) on the campaign, Walkers released packs across their entire range using cartoon images that would hype the movies, attract buyers and pique the interest of Star Wars fans and collectors (who naturally would love to collect the numerous different bags and wrappers) as well as the casual buyers and fans.

Tazo Binder, 1997

Tazo Leia and Luke, 1997

Tazo Box, Walkers, 1997

Tazo, Darth Vader, 1997

Tazo Forcecards

Tazo B-wing, 1997

To further enhance interest Walkers included within the bags a limited edition series of Star Wars Tazos. All in all there were fifty to collect with a Collector’s Force Pack binder to store them in. The original trilogy was covered by Tazos 1 – 39 while Tazos 40 – 50 covered the Special Editions and were only available in bags of Doritos (although only 5 of these final 10 Tazos featured artwork unique to the Special Editions). It was a huge success, marrying the collectability of the Tazos, the bags themselves and the high quality of Walkers crisps with the snacktastic magic of Star Wars. But what images were available on each packet? There was a choice of eight in all (the Star Wars logo, the Special Edition logo, Darth Vader, Chewie, Threepio, Artoo, Stormtrooper and the SE logo and TIE fighter) and each character was displayed on the following ranges and flavours (deep breath):

Lining up their promotions during the six-week lead up to The Phantom Menace‘s UK release on July 16, 1999, Walkers Crisps went all-out to make the promotion their biggest yet, marrying their own ever-growing range with what was then the most anticipated release in motion picture history. Speaking to Marketing Magazine back on April 1, 1999, John Chatterton, senior brand manager for Walkers, noted that such media tie-ins were essential to the re-building of the Star Wars brand which in 1999 was aiming for a new and young audience to compliment the already strong and existing original trilogy fans. “There will be a tie-up promotion with a game card. Promotions like this are part of the fundamental building blocks of the brand — together with the quality of the product and the Gary Lineker (one of England’s greatest football players and now a veteran television sports presenter who has advertised Walkers Crisps since the mid-’90s) advertising.”

Chatterton also made mention of the many licensees who had hopped aboard the Episode I bandwagon, saying “There are well over fifty licensees — covering areas from kids’ clothing and stationery right through to crockery and food.” With Pepsico being the parent company of Walkers, the entire initiative was part of the infamous $2 billion dollar 1996 deal that saw Pepsi and it’s various brands advertising the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition and Episode 1 in a deal that saw Taco Bell, Frito Lays, Pepsi, 7-Up, Burger King and more involved in the massive advertising campaign.

So, there’s your in-depth look at the range of products released by Walkers Crisps here in the UK for the Special Edition and Episode I. UK collectors certainly piled on the pounds as they chased down missing packs, scratch cards and Tazos but luckily those Walkers Crisps taste a whole lot better than rootleaf stew.

Mark is a long-time contributor to Star Wars Insider, is the co-owner of Jedi News, contributes to the UK’s biggest free newspaper The Metro and is the co-host of RebelForce Radio’s RADIO 1138 podcast. When he’s not talking or writing about Star Wars, he can usually be found sleeping, where he’ll most likely be dreaming about Star Wars.

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